


freedom

by miss_tatiana



Category: Redwall Series - Brian Jacques
Genre: Nightmares, set right after the escape from riftgard, triss is just getting used to being free
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 18:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15588135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_tatiana/pseuds/miss_tatiana
Summary: Triss is tormented by nightmares of life at Riftgard. But when she wakes, she remembers that she's left that life behind.





	freedom

**Author's Note:**

> for redwall fic month week one!

It was cold; it was so cold. No creature could survive more than a few days of this, and they’d already been there for hours. Triss was sure that one day, they’d just be left there until they died. It wasn’t crazy to expect, not from these guards. 

The cage they were in was sturdy, unbreakable. She’d spent hours trying to figure out plans of escape, only to have each one fail. The metal was rusted below the tide line, corroded by the salt water that came flooding up to freeze the cage’s inhabitants.

Right now, the water was waist high on Shogg, and closer to shoulder high on both Triss and Welfo. It was freezing, and there just wasn’t a way to warm up. Even if they found a way to get up out of the grasp of the water the cold night wind ripping easily through the bars of the cage would freeze them even further. 

They huddled together as close as they could, trying to preserve what little warmth they still had between them. 

They were going to die tonight. Triss couldn’t shake that thought. They were going to die tonight in this cage, and they couldn’t do anything about it. She couldn’t stop it, she couldn't even postpone it. They were going to freeze to death, and it was going to be her fault. 

It was hard to see beyond the cage, just because it was night time and dark and because a thick fog settled over the Fjord at night, but she could almost make out a sort of figure, standing a few meters away, silhouetted by moonlight, surrounded by mist. 

Triss prodded Welfo, then Shogg. “Do you see that? Guys, do you see that?”

There was no response, even though their eyes were open. It was understandable- sometimes just shutting down was easier than being present for all the torments of the cage. 

The figure was stepping closer, and when it was just a few feet away, it stopped. It was Riftun, captain of the guard. The most vicious creature under the employment of the ferrets at Riftgard. 

Fear set into Triss, curling in her chest and making her hand ache for a weapon she’d never had, so she could defend herself and her friends. 

It wasn’t uncommon for guards to come watch the workers in the cages, to further their torment with taunts or prods with the staves they always carried. Riftun wasn’t making any move for his weapon, though, nor was he making any noise. 

“What do you want?” Triss called out, her voice weakened by the cold. 

Riftun lifted a hand slowly, pointing at Shogg. 

Triss looked up at her friend only to see the life leave his eyes, and she knew in her heart that he was dead. That Riftun had just killed him. She couldn’t breathe, and she couldn’t scream. She just had to watch as Riftun pointed at Welfo as well, and the same process took her. 

They were dead, and they were still clinging to Triss. She shuddered, trying to push them off, but their grips were too tight, and she finally found the breath to scream. 

“Triss,” Riftun said. “Triss.” 

“Triss! Triss!” That was Shogg’s voice. 

Triss’s eyes flew open, afternoon sun meeting them. She gasped for breath, eyes focusing on Shogg, who was bent over into her line of vision. 

“You alright?” he asked, putting a paw to her forehead. 

“What happened?” Triss asked breathlessly. 

“You must have been dreaming. You were sleeping, and you screamed,” Shogg explained, helping her up to her paws. 

“How long have I been asleep?” Triss followed Shogg back to the rudder and sat next to him. 

“Since you went out the first night,” Shogg said. “You slept the whole night, and then into the day too.”

“Have there been any guard ships?” Triss demanded.

“Not that I’ve seen.” 

“And Welfo?”

“Her injury is… bad,” Shogg said, and he sounded scared. “But she’s alive.” 

“And we’re free,” Triss said, a smile spreading across her face. 

They were really the freest place a creature could be- at sea. The waves and the winds were their only masters, and with a ship, they could control even those. They had the whole sea to sail, every corner of the world to explore, and they could get as far from Riftgard as anyone could. 

It felt good to be free. Better than good, it felt amazing. Nothing could beat the feeling of a sea breeze gently blowing, of the sweet rock of the waves against the hull. Well, one thing could beat that, and it was the smile on Shogg’s face, the surety he had at the rudder, the feeling of joy that made Triss’s chest so tight, Welfo’s small, gentle smile when she was told that she was finally free. 

It was unbelievable. They were free. And she could have as many nightmares as she would, and it wouldn’t matter. None of them would matter, because they were only that. Nightmares. They weren’t real, not anymore. 

Triss smiled, the sun beating down on her face. She did everything Shogg instructed her to that day, performing nautical tasks with the rudder and sails that she didn’t fully understand but did happily nonetheless. She fed and checked on Welfo, and she spent time with herself too- letting the sea breeze blow through her fur, letting the smell of salt, of the ocean, fill her nose. 

Here, on the open ocean, they had the whole world ahead of them. Welfo’s injury would heal- they would all heal of all their wounds and scars and memories. They were free. They were free. They were free. 


End file.
